by Den Lennie Issue 102 - June 2015
As I discussed in the previous issue building a relationship with your potential customer is vitally important, as this gains trust and allows you to then present a buying option. Ive also spoken about our free report that we offer to visitors, and this next chapter is all about how to create that report and how to set up your emails so that they are automated. When you know how, its super easy!
Create some valuable free content and give it away for free. When someone is searching the internet looking to solve a problem, there is nothing more powerful than landing on a page which not only promises to solve the problem, but actually gives them a free gift which helps them solve it more quickly. This is sometimes known as free line content or lead generator and its designed to lure your prospect into signing up (or opting in) to receive more information from you The psychology behind this process is designed to create a good impression with a prospective customer. It also puts you in control early on in the buying cycle.
Let me explain: if your ideal client is browsing the internet looking to find a corporate video production company to create a promotional video, and they are using the search term corporate video production, theyll no doubt have many companies (results) to choose from. Lets say they then click on two or three different companies. The chances are they will all offer a similar kind of service, including headlines like, look at our showreel, click here for a quote¦ and so on.
Now imagine if one of those results offers them a free report called, Five tips to help you choose a video production company and how to avoid making an expensive mistake! I bet they would be intrigued. There is the answer to their problem, and they dont have to wade through lots of other websites, as they now have a company which offers them a free report that will help them make their decision. (A very important psychological trick here is to include the phrase avoid making an expensive mistake. Its quite possible that the person tasked with finding a production company has budgetary restraints or at the very least a figure in mind that they want to spend.) So its your job as a marketer to highlight the pain and then offer an easy solution to help put their mind at ease, especially if you run a professional high quality business that charges premium prices.
A second benefit of creating a free report like this is that not many people go to the trouble of doing this, which means you instantly stand out from the rest of the noise. Go now and Google corporate video production and browse the companies which are advertising. My guess is that very few, if any, are offering this kind of free report on their homepage.
This is the biggest and easiest no-brainer that you can apply to your business immediately.
Its very important not to offer anything for sale in this first communication. The psychological purpose of a free gift is that it offers the client great value and you will have embedded in their mind that you are someone who is willing to help them before any money has exchanged hands. This is a very strong and powerful marketing tool.
When someone gives you anything, be it a bottle of wine for dinner or a thank you gift of any description, you feel a great sense of warmth and joy because it is nice to receive presents. If someone buys you lunch, you often have it in your mind that you owe them a lunch in return. If someone has done a favour for you or helped you out in some way, you are naturally drawn to wanting to help them in return. By creating a free report that helps someone solve a problem (and if they find it helpful) then its quite likely you will feature highly on their list of people to contact to carry out the actual work.
This is simply human psychology; when you give something away for free, you endear yourself to that person, just by being helpful.
In my own business www.fstopacademy.com, we offer free reports to get you started and then we follow up with email. Only after a two-month period do we begin to offer products for sale.
Nobody likes the hard sell without a bit of understanding in advance of who youre dealing with, and what knowledge and experience you have to offer.
Once youve created a report and its on your website, what happens next? Well, now you have to create a series of emails and an opt in form so that you can capture the data (contact details) and follow up with that customer regularly via email.
To read more and download a free chapter at
www.businessforfilmmakers.com
